A. Technical Field
The present invention pertains generally to digital image processing, and relates more particularly to image processing that allows for enhanced quality of images while achieving high compression ratios. The present invention may be incorporated into systems and methods.
B. Background of the Invention
Whiteboards have been and are extensively used for exchanging ideas in many places, such as meeting rooms and classrooms. Notes on whiteboards are usually taken manually during or after discussions, which can be quite time consuming. Although whiteboard equipped with scanners are available, such systems are typically very costly solutions to reproduce what is on a whiteboard. Furthermore, a person at a meeting in which information is conveyed using a whiteboard may have no control over the type of whiteboard that is used. If a whiteboard scanner is not present, the participant may not have the ability to insist or insure that a whiteboard scanner be used or be made available for use. These problems or similar ones exist for information presented in other ways, such as posters, easels, chalkboards, signs, paper, cards, magazines, and the like.
Using a camera to capture images is economical, but the captured image may not be ready for reproduction, such as printing, due to factors such as unpredictable room lighting. Post-processing of the captured image using image editing software is typically a very tedious task, and it can be quite difficult to achieve satisfactory quality. In addition, such an image usually has a huge file size, making it difficult to store, process, and/or transmit.
Accordingly, what is needed are systems and method to convert images, such as whiteboard images, to a high-quality high-compression file in a compressed format, such as PDF format.